Pubdate: Tue, 05 Nov 2002
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Chris Kraul, Times Staff Writer
Webpage: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fox5nov05.story

MEXICO'S NEW DRUG POLICY FOCUSES ON SMALL PICTURE

President Touts Gains Against Cartels But Declares Substance Abuse A 
Destructive Problem.

MEXICO CITY -- Boasting success in fighting "big fish" drug traffickers and 
high-level government corruption, President Vicente Fox is now targeting 
small-time dealers in order to combat drug consumption in Mexico, a problem 
that officials say is spiraling out of control.

In an address Monday unveiling his anti-drug program and in his weekly 
radio address Saturday, Fox said he would soon ask Mexico's Congress to 
pass laws allowing municipal and state police to arrest drug dealers, a 
power that currently resides only with federal law enforcement officials.

Mexican anti-drug efforts have focused on breaking up international drug 
trafficking rings, including the Arellano Felix cartel of Tijuana and the 
Carrillo Fuentes gang of Ciudad Juarez. Citing 40 arrests of cartel leaders 
since he took office two years ago, Fox pronounced Mexico's three biggest 
gangs "dismantled."

But recent studies indicate that consumption among Mexicans of cocaine, 
heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines is on the rise, a trend that Fox 
said is threatening the social fabric by tearing apart families and fueling 
a wave of kidnappings, murders and robberies.

"This is a war we have to fight on all fronts, and it's not enough to 
attack the supply. We have to keep demand from growing," Fox said Monday at 
a gathering that included federal legislators and several of his Cabinet 
members. "Together, the federal government, the states and the cities will 
raise a wall to stop crime."

The initiative comes as the Fox administration as a whole is pointing to 
successes in its fight against drugs and corruption, including the arrest 
of trafficker Benjamin Arellano Felix in March and the confiscation of 
thousands of tons of marijuana, cocaine and heroin in recent months.

Investigators arrested 22 federal officials last month for allegedly 
feeding law enforcement information to drug mafias. Also in October, the 
army disbanded its 65th Battalion in Sinaloa state. Instead of combating 
the drug trade, the unit was helping traffickers transport drugs.

On Friday, a military tribunal convicted two army generals, Francisco 
Quiros Hermosillo and Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro, of helping the Juarez 
cartel transport drugs to the U.S.-Mexican border.

Although the amount of drugs that Mexico has confiscated since Fox took 
office is roughly equal to seizures of recent years, UC San Diego professor 
Peter H. Smith believes it may represent a greater percentage of the 
overall flow. Drug shipments from Mexico are probably down over the last 
year or two, with much of it now diverted through the Caribbean, he said.

"With the persistence of drug demand in the United States, there are real 
limits to what authorities in drug-producing and in-transit countries can 
do, other than raise the cost of doing business," Smith said. "But within 
the constraints that Mexico faces, Fox is probably doing as well as we 
could possibly hope for."

Although he said he doubts that Fox's plan to cut consumption and 
production will work, Jorge Chabat, a professor at Mexico City's Center for 
Economic Research and Teaching, gave the president credit for the arrests 
of top traffickers.

"It certainly improves Mexico's image vis-a-vis the United States, and 
that's not minor," he said.
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